NFL Week 14 Fantasy Football Recap: Dallas Cowboys vs. Houston Texans

• Tony Pollard: 10 carries, 42 yards, 1 touchdown, 4 receptions, 20 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown

• Chris Moore: 10 receptions, 124 yards

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James Washington makes his Cowboys debut: Washington signed with the Cowboys in free agency but broke his foot in training camp. He was activated off injured reserve before this game.

He was fourth on the Cowboys' depth chart, pushing third-round rookie Jalen Tolbert to be a healthy inactive.
Nine of his 11 snaps came from 11 personnel. On all nine plays, he took Michael Gallup’s place on the field.
Gallup played ahead of Noah Brown in two-receiver sets for just the second time this season. This meant Brown was the player to see a decrease in snaps rather than Gallup.
Washington could see more snaps going forward, and those would likely come at the expense of Gallup.
Two of the Cowboys' next three games are favorable for their wide receivers, but it might be hard to trust any of them outside of CeeDee Lamb amid the uncertainty of playing time for everyone else.

Monitor Dameon Pierce’s health: Pierce suffered an ankle injury early in the fourth quarter and didn’t return.

He handled his usual role for most of the game, although he wasn’t playing as much in passing situations compared to previous weeks.
Dare Ogunbowale’s role was already on the rise in Houston. He played half of their third-down snaps last week for the first time all year. He took a clear hold of the passing role at the start of the game.
Eno Benjamin was the backup on early downs throughout the game, with Rex Burkhead not seeing a snap until after Pierce’s injury.
Benjamin would likely be the closest substitute for Pierce if he misses time, but we will probably see a three-back committee if Pierce can’t play.
Houston’s next two opponents are against likely playoff teams, so there may not be many opportunities to run the ball in those matchups.

Houston without its top two receivers: Both Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins missed this game with injuries, leading the Texans to dig deep into their depth chart.

Veterans Chris Moore and Phillip Dorsett were the two starting receivers, with Amari Rodgers coming in on three-receiver sets.
Rodgers was a recent waiver wire pickup from the Packers. In Green Bay, Rodgers only ever played in the slot. Houston had him play both in the slot and out wide, with Moore also seeing significant snaps from the slot.
The Texans' top wide receiver is worth rostering in fantasy leagues with how much Houston will need to pass these next few weeks. We might not know who that is until game time next week.

The Texans use a quarterback rotation: Many teams in NFL history have tried to use two healthy quarterbacks throughout a game. The Texans might be the first to have two healthy quarterbacks split snaps 50-50 due to a rotation rather than an injury or a benching, though.

Davis Mills started the game, with Jeff Driskel coming in for the second drive.
There were a few drives throughout the game where a quarterback had a drive to themselves, but there were also several drives where both quarterbacks saw the field.
The biggest tendency was Driskel playing in short-yardage situations, while Mills played more in clear passing situations.
This led Mills to attempt 21 passes compared to six by Driskel. Driskel also ran the ball seven times. Driskel threw a touchdown, while Mills threw an interception.
Neither quarterback would likely be a starter in superflex leagues over the rest of the season, so they definitely won’t be fantasy starters in this rotation.

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.

• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.